After that, nothing went right for the Twins. Starter Hector Santiago, he of the recent trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, is still looking for his first win as a member of the Twins after he got shelled, ultimately surrendering seven runs, all earned, in four innings of work.

Making matters worse, fielding — the other category besides pitching that has haunted the Twins this season — was terrible after the team committed four errors — two each from outfielder Robbie Grossman and infielder Jorge Polanco.

The Twins rank dead last in team pitching in the American League and the same goes for team fielding, having committed 91 errors this season. They’re clearly on pace to commit more than 100 errors, but how many more? And yet team hitting (Thanks, Brian Dozier) continues to improve, rising to No. 7 in the AL out of 15 teams.

Meanwhile, the Ricky Nolasco for Hector Santiago trade, despite looking attractive on paper, appears to be a bust for the Twins and interim GM Rob Antony. It’s hard to blame Antony because Santiago was 6-0 in July; instead, it just seems fitting for the kind of year the Twins have had. Santiago may have been undefeated last month, but he’s winless with the Twins at 0-3, including an astronomical ERA of 9.42. If Antony once had the inside track for the permanent GM job, my guess now is that the owners are working the phones for someone outside the organization. Andy MacPhail, anyone?

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone and I love the Twins.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.